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THE LIFE AND CHARACTER 



JAMES A. GARFIELD, 



Prepared by B. A. HINSDALE, 

President of Hiram College. I . ' • 



Jas. Abiam Garfield was boru in the woods 
of Orange, Cu^-hoga County, Ohio, November 
.9, 1831, His lather and mother moved into 
that fores'; the year before, there to make for 
themselves an /tlieir children a home. Before 
the littl- strip oi land had been paid for, or 
even cleared or the trees, the hnsband and 
ta^Jier died. His last utterance was these 
pathetic words, addressed to his wife* "'I 
have planted four saplings in tiiese woods: I 
must now leave them to your care." The 
.youngest of •"the saplings' was James, then a 
year and a half old:. 

Before the father died the struggle for exist- 
ence was fierce enough now it became fiercer. 
The widowed mother strove to keep the children 
together, and to rear them to adult age. That 
fierce smuggle for very life was James A.'s 
first school. Most readers know enough of 
\);oneer life, from experience or tradition, to 
see at glance the main fcatiares or his exter- 
nal life. A log house, a small clearing in 
tne forest, plain food and coarse clothes, few 
books and papers, a pioneer district school, 
school house meetings, loggings, raisings, 
•bees,'' hard work, and pinching poverty. 
Young Garfield came through this pioneer 
period, and showed himself to have the 
making of a man. 

At the usual age. James Garfield entered 
the district school. Here he always stood at 
the head, or with the first as a scholar. By 
the time that he was eighteen he had learned 
all that the school could teach him. He now 
went two or three terms ^o the Geauga 
Seminary at Chester, and f^ien, in 1851. to t4ie 
Eclectic Institute (now Hiram College), at 
Hiram, Portage County, O. Herehe prepared 
for college. Now he moved on to "Williams 
College, Massachusetts, where he was gradua- 
ted, in 1856, with the highest honors of the 
class. In seven years he had passed over all 
the ground between an old fashioned district 
school and a first class New England College. 
He had done much more than this. He had 
taught district school himself. He had 
worked at the carpenters' trader While car- 
rying on his own sridies at Hiram, lie also 
did full work as a teaclier for two years. He 
bad earned nearly money enough to pay his 
own way ; only a small debt remained to be 
discharged. In iho school, as in the woods 
and the fallow, he had proved himself a man. 
In 1856 Mr. iarfieid was made teacher of the 
ancient ^anguagos in Hiram Institute. The 
next year he became its head. Here he re- 
mained until the autumn of 1861. As an 
^ucator, he grew rajjidly in power and in 



public favor. As a te^icher, school adminis- 
trator, class lecturer, and popular lecturer, Ik- 
made rapid strides toward the head of the 
profession. As he was beginning to think 
seriously of leaving the work of education for 
the law, the war broke out and swept him 
into a new field of activity. 

August 16, 1861, Teacher Garfield, then not 
quite thirty years old, entered the army as a 
Lieutenant Colonel. Soon he was made a 
Colonel. In the winter of 1861 he cleared 
the Sandy Valley, Kentucky, of the rebels. 
January 10 he was made Brigadier General — 
the youngest in the army. He commanded a 
brigade on the red field of Shiloh. He 
was with Thomas at Chicka- 

mauga. "For gallant and meritorious 
service" at this battle he was made a Major 
General. He left the army soon after. He 
had served as a soldier two years and three 
months, and no volunteer officer in the whole 
war rendered more valuable or distinguished 
service. 

As early as 1856 Gen. Garfield had taken a 
great interest in politics. In 1859 he was 
elected a member of the OhioSenate,in which 
he served one term. He was the youngest 
Senator and one of the abkst and most use- 
ful. In 1862, while he was in the army, the 
Nineteenth Ohio Congressional District 
elected him to the House of Representatives. 
At the opening of the Thirty-eighth Congress, 
Pccember 5, 1863, he took his seat in that 
body. He was the youngest man in the Con- 
gress. It was this entry upon civil service 
that took him from the army. 

Gen. Garfield has been a member of the Na- 
tional House of Representatives since he en- 
tered it, in 1863. Nine times in succes-^ion 
has the Nineteenth Ohio District elected him 
itii Representative. In this office he has ren- 
dered the country most consjiicuous and val- 
uable service. He has been the Chairman of 
some of tlie most important and lalwrious 
committees. He has served with alile men. 
but years ago he becaif i'^e leader of his 
party in the House, and, it may be said, of 
the House itself. No member has been a more 
constant and thorotigh student of political 
questions. No member ha-s taken an abler or 
more influential part in the debates. No man 
in that forum has made so nuiny speeches 
that are so w;^!l worth reading. _ Noi 
member has been a more consistenti 
champion of the enlightened and pro-I 
gressive princip.es of the Republican' 
party. Three times he has been the Ciindidate 
of his party for the Speakership. He has 



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talten tin !-nten?p;ent interest iri all the qnes- 
tioiis tliut, atlect the i)ublic good. To no other 
Representative for these many years past does 
the nation owe so niucii. Nor has the llouse 
of Representatives bounded his great activi- 
ties, lie has won a high place at the bar. 
Jle has done as much on the stump as any 
mai to instruct ami guide the people. Early 
in January lust he was elected to tlie national 
Senate l>y the unanimous vote of his party in 
the Ohio Legislature. And finally, June 8, 
18.S0, in the great convention at Chicago, 
amid thunders of applause, the roar of ar- 
tillery, the waving of batiners, and the inspir- 
ing strains of music, he was made tlic Repub- 
lican candidate for the Presidency of the 
republic. 

The above is but a naked outline of a great 
life. The following testimonies will partly 
fill out the outline and partly round out the 
character; more, they will reveal the impres- 
sion that Gen. Garfield has made upon the 
minds of tiiose who know hir^ best. 

The compiler of this tract, in his "Repub- 
lican Text Book for the CampaiLm of 1S80," 
thus touches one phase of Garfield's work as 
a teacher: 

One of his most valuable offices was his 
morning lectures in chapel to all tbe scholars. 
In those days the term attendance at Hiram 
ranged from 180 to 300 students, covering 
a wide range of ability and educa- 
tion. He did not give a lecture every 
morning, but one or more series were 
expected every terra. He had brought back 
from Williams the best though/s of Dr. Mark 
Hopkins; in the fertile soil of hismind, these, 
as well as the thoughts gathered from other 
•sources, became the seeds of fresh thoughts 
innumerable, and he sowed the harvest again 
with unstinted hand. He ranged over the 
fields of Bible history, morals, education, 
teaching, science, literature, practical affairs, 
history, and life questions. These lectures 
may not have been finished ad miguem; but 
tliey abounded in fresh facts, striking illus- 
trations, and suggestive thoughts, and were 
warm with the breath of his own life. Occa- 
sionally he would give \is from manuscript a 
finished address, colored more warmly, 
perhaps, than his mature taste 
woukf •justify. In this exhilarating 
atmosphere, ethics and religion 

were not forgotten. Particular pains were 
taken to place before the students ideals of 
life and cliaracter nobly wrought, and instinct 
with courage, manliness, and truth. Though 
bounding with life and spirits himself, he was 
full of Aviiat L>r. Thomas Arnold called "moral 
thoughtful ness," and he strove to make his 
pupils temperate, morally serious, and rever- 
ent to truth. 

He thus touches the moral side of Garfield's 
character: 

The closer men have come into contact 
with him, the greater has been their faith in 
him. He has inspired confidence and respect 
in all large miiidc d and generous men, with- 
out regard to politics. Withal, he is a re- 
ligious man. As a boy, he was never the 
bully or swaggerer that fiction sometimes 
makes him, but strictly moral and serious. 
Althougli abundantly able and willing to de- 
fend to the utmost his own rights, or the 
rights of the weak and helpless, by physical 
force, if necessary, he was peaceable and 
self-contained. Before reaching his majoritv, 
he made public profession of religion, aiid 
has continued a member of the Church to 
this day. Like all men of h's thought and 
reading, he understands the diffiult religious 
questions that modern criticism and science 
have started; he, no doubt, thinks that the 



old theologies mnst be partially recenstrncted; 
but his native piety, his early training, and 
his own sober convictions, hold him fast to 
the great truths of revealed religion. Rev. 
Dr. Butler, a Lutheran minister of Washing- 
ton, says: "I have not un frequently seen 
him supporting his venerable mother upon 
his strong arm as they slowly walked together 
from the "house of God. He worships regularly 
in the humble Disciples' Church.'' 

Senator Hoar thus spoke in his Worcester 
eulogy: 

Just think for a moment of the various 
qualifications for this great office which this 
man combines! Do you want a statesman? 
Do you demand that your President shall be 
something more than a siiccesstVl soldier — 
tliat he shall have experience in civil affairs? 
No President of the United States since John 
Quincy Adams began to bring to the Presi- 
dential office, when he entered upon it, any- 
thing like the experience in statesmanship of 
James A. Garfield. Look out over the list. 
Grant and Jackson and Taylor brought great 
fame as soldiers; but of whom can you think 
since John Quincy Adams entered upon that 
great office who had, when ho took it, such a 
civil career to look back upon as 
that of Gen. Garfield? Since the 
year 18G4 you can not think of 
a question which has been debated in Con- 
gress, or discussed before the great tribunal of 
the great American people, in regard to which 
you will not find, if you wish instruction, the 
arguments on one side stated, and stated in 
almost every instance better than anybody 
else, in some speech made in the Llouse of 
Representatives, or on the liustings by Mr. 
Garfield." 

The (Christian Standard, of Cincinnati, 
just before the Chicago nomination spoke 
thus: 

We are glad to sny. however, that there .-ire 
men who rise above this turmoil, and stand 
in calm poise and grandeur far above such 
methods and such men, and it is with the ut- 
most pleasure that we recognize among them, 
pre-eminent, J. A, Garfield, to whom it was 
committed to name to the convention one of 
the principal candidates. His sjieech will 
stand as a model, apart by itself, as the one 
gem of the occasion. It is no wonder 
that among the spectators there was 
developed a strong sentiment that he himself 
was the man for the hour. At every crisis in 
the convention his voice is heard, for princi- 
ple, for sobriety, for prudence, and honor. 
We regret that we have not the space to r<v 
produce his speech here, but we shall proba- 
bly give it hereafter. We think it will com- 
mend itself to the good sense and patriotism 
of men of all parties. And if ever he is named 
for a great office, we can not ask more than 
that it shall be as fitly done. 

And just after the nomination thus: 

On account, we presume, of our known 
long acquaintance with the candidate of the 
Republican party for the Presidency, and the 
j>ersonal friendship existing between us, we 
are already besieged with questions touching 
every rumor put in circulation by his politi- 
cal opponents to his injury. Ours is not a ])o- 
litical paper, and we have nothing to say in 
these columns touching the party issues be- 
tween Republicans and Democrats. But as 
touching the character of James A. Gar- 
field as an honest man, a Ciiristian gentle- 
man, art upright, loyal and faithful citizen, 
and a statesman of great ability, of high in- 
tegrity, and of pure morals, we are free to say. 
as the result of a long and intimate personax 



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acquaintarxre, that we have in him, and have 

always had, unbounded confidence — a confi- 
dence that has never trembled for a moment. 
In a letter received from Bro. F. D. Power, for 
many years our preacher in Washiri>2;ton, and 
who has occasion to know him well, he says 
of Gen. Garfield: "He is a good, pure man, 
and we lovehira." Let tliis suffice. "We hope 
the Democrats will give us a ca.iaioate equally 
able and worthy, and that the campaign will 
be conducted with reference to principles 
rather than persons, and be free from personal 
warfare. 

Geo. Alfred Townsend, the well known 
"Gath" of the newspapers, says ot Gen. Gar- 
field: 

He is the most serious and instructive 
man on the stump. 

And Judge Stanley Matthews: 

He ranks to-day among the very best law- 
yers at the bar of the whole country. 

The American Christian Review, of June 
22, contained the following: 

Gen. James A. Garfield, recently nomi- 
nated by the Chicago Republican Convention 
for the Presidency of the United States, is a 
member of the Church of Christ, and has 
been for about thirty years. He will soon 
be fifty years of age. We are glad to record 
the fact that, besides being a statesman of ac- 
knowledged ability, his private life has been 
pure, and that his Christian character is 
without a stain. If the Democratic party 
shall nominate a man for the same exalted 
position, bearing as clean a record in morals 
and sobriety as that of Garfield, the nation 
may well have cause to rejoice. We have 
known Brother Garfield personally for 
twenty-five years, and during all that time 
have known him as an humble Christian, un- 
pretentioi;s in his profession, magnanimous 
and liberal hearted, honest, faithful, and 
philanthropic, with a head and heart ready to 
serve in the hitmblest cause of humanity. 
The last time we were in W^ashington City we 
found him teaching a Bible class in the Sun- 
day school of a very oli.scure cliurch. He is 
one of the biggest hearted Christian men we 
ever met. We have spoken these few words 
iu praise of Bro. Garfield as a Christian citi- 
zen, and not as a politician, because we think 
our brethren at large feel pleased that so dis- 
tinguished an honor has been conferred on 
one of our brethren. It does not belong to 
the character of the Review to speakgpf his 
politics, or of his political creed, 'fnat in- 
formation must be found in political or- 
gans. 

The following is cut from the Evangelist, 
of Chicago, for June 17: 

The nomination of Gen. James A. Garfield 
by the Republican Convention for President 
is one which will be regarded with great satis- 
faction by all the friends of purer morals in 
j>olitics. The Evangelist is in no sense a parti- 
san paper, but it can not but feel a deep in- 
terest in the welfare of a nation of 50,000,000 
of people, and it has feared that a tide of cor- 
ruption, disregard of the popular will and of 
tlie precedents of the early history of the re- 
public was setting in, which would result in 
the gravest evils. It has hoped that both of 
the great parties would -rise above the murky 
atmosphere of rings and office seekers, and 
nominate men of lofty character, whose repu- 
tation would guarantee a continuance of the 
purity which has characterized the adminis- 
tration of President Hayes. One of the great 
parties has now fulfilled that hope. 

Our readers are generally aware that Gen. 



Garfield is a faitliful member of fhc Christian 
Church. On both Lord.'^days that lie pas.sed 
in this city he has been found in liis place iu 
the house of God. On Sunday. June 6. only 
ninety-five delegates out of nearly 800 at- 
tended church, and nearly all the leaders 
spent the entire day in bargaining, wire ])ull- 
ing, banqueting, and in other ways seeking to 
promote their political objects. " Of all the 
great men in attendance (iarlield is the on'y 
one of whom we know who observed 
the day as a Christian. This is his 
uniform course. Wherever lie goes he finds 
out the Christian Church, however obscure, 
and attends its meeting^!. In the city of 
Washington he is one ol the most faithful at- 
tendants upon the services conducted by Bro. 
Power. Before the war. while acting as Pres- 
ident of Hiram College. Ohio, he preached 
regularly for the churches, and he still often 
speaks in the house of God. He declines to 
enter the pHlj.it as a preacher, but will arise 
in his place-and speak Avith great power and 
fervor. Sitch a man in the White House will 
give a miglity impulse to the morals and re- 
ligion of our country. His example will be 
felt to the remotest corners of the nation. 

The Christian Union, of !New York, June 
16, bore this testimony: 

Gen. Garfield is an earnest Christian man; 
a member of the Disciples (Campbellites). a 
denomination very numerous in the West 
aTul Southwest' has never been ashame<l of 
liis faith: has often preached, though he has 
never been professionally a preacber, and 
has always carried his religious principles 
into his political life. He has the respect of 
those who most widely dillier from him in 
political views; and the spontaneous meeting 
held in the House of Representatives by its 
members, to send him ttieir congratulations 
on his nomination, was equally creditable to 
him and to the moral sense of "the House. 

The Methodist, of New York, June 19, 
spoke as follows: 

The nomination of Gen. Garfield by the 
Republicans suggests many useful reflections 
It is, of course, a satisfaction to all Republic- 
ans that they can unite next November; and 
our present impression is that the union will 
embrace all or nearly all the Independent or 
Liberal Republicans. We shall probably take 
no part in the discussion, and we make ha.ste 
to say that efforts to prove Gen, Garfield a 
corrupt man can not, in our judgment, suc- 
ceed. Perhaps the excellent use of certain 
stories about him — which we do not believe — 
may be to exclude mud throwing from the 
canvass. If the Democrats make a good nomi- 
nation, as good a one as this in personal char- 
acter, both sides may perceive the folly of 
laying stress upon doubtful circumstances in 
lives chara<'terized by uprightness and fidelity 
to })ublic duty. 

The Evangelist of New York, June 17. 
contains the following: 

And now, if we were to sum np in one 
word the impression which he makes tij)on 
us, it would be that of his thorough vianhneiix. 
He is every inch a man. There is something 
manly in his very physique. Tall in person, 
broad chested and strong limbed he has the 
figure of an athlete. His head is large, and 
the expression of his face one of mingled in- 
telligence and kindliness. He has an 
open countenance — one in wiiich 

we can detect no lines of craft and 
cunning but which shows a frank and open 
nature that scorns guile, and trickery, and 
deceit. If there be anything in physiognomy 
— if we can read the mind in the face — we 



8honld sny: Tliis is a trup. brave, honest nmn, 
wlio would serve liis country in any station, 
legislative or executive, with the Haine uianly 
courage which he showetl in the lieUl. 

Jiut there is niore in Ids countenance even 
than intelligence and simplicity of character. 
There is another thing which goes with true 
Tuanlines.s — great sweetness and gentleness, 
something which shows under a frame of 
in)n a heart, which we do not always lind 
united with sterner qualities. It is a face, iu 
short, which indicates one who is brave as a 
lion and gentle as a woman. Such is the 
hero of the Lour. "We repeat, he is "every 
inch a man" — big brained, big breasted, and 
big hearted — a man to love as a companion, 
and to l"olU)W as a leader. 

Such is lie who, in the full vigor of his 
manhood — he is not yet tifty — is nominated 
for President of the 'United States. Should 
Jie be elected to that office, we are sure that 
he would carry into his new. position the 
same <iualities wliich he has shown hitherto, 
and that as the head of the government lie 
would pursue the same straightforward 
course, and mantain the manly simplicity 
and integrity of the early days of the Ke- 
public. 

In 1874 The Independent spoke of Gen. 
Garlield in terms of condemnation. Its article 
has recently been going the rounds of the 
newspapers. September 2, The Independ- 
ent thus expressed its later opinion: 

The quotation from our columns is correct. 
^Ve did use the language attributed to us, for 
a laudable purpose and in accordance with 
tlie evivleiice then before us. There was then 
before the public damaging evidence in lef- 
erence to both the Credit Mohilier and the 
De Golyer contract. Having occasion to say, 
none too strongly, that in a candidate before 
a convention or a constituency ''honesty is 
even more essential than intelligence," 
that Electors should "get an intelligent 
rei)resentiitive, if they can find him, 
but they must find an honest one," we then 
referred to the current charges against Mr. 
Garfiehl, whose name was before the Nine- 
teenth District of Ohio for re-eiection. After 
speaking in very flattering terms of Mr. Gar- 
field, we stated fully what were the charges, 
•with the evidence as it tlien stood, which im- 
pres.sed us, and we told the citizens of that 
district that they should "seek of Mr. Garlield 
very clear explanations of his conduct before 
consenting to vote for him." We put this as 
strongly as we kru'W how, because we be- 
lieved that his constituents, who knew him 
best and who were a body of remarkably high 
moral tone, should, abov(^ all others, rest sat- 
isfie<l with nothing less than high honor in 
ilicir Kepresentative. Tliey saw it as we did, 
and they demanded the •"explanations." He 
sjiw it as we ditl, and he gave the "explana- 
tions." They were full and satisfactory, and 
that Nineteenth District has forgotten that it 
ever suspected its representative, and so had 
we. We then were troubled, as they were. 
Since then we have carefully studied the whole 
case and fully exonerate him. The Nation, 
a paper which lias the rejiutation of being so 
imi)artiai as to lean backward, has, after full 
investigation, done the same. Mr. Poland 
hini-selt, who drew up the adverse r('i)orc, 
now .»iays tliat he believes it did Mr. Garlield 
injustice, and that, if the evidence afterward 
^iven in defense by Mr. Garlield had been 
before it, the report would have been very 
dill'cTent 111 his'case. We liave studied the 
entire evidence, and we are imw satisfied, as 
we were nor in ]S74, that there was nothing 
:n the conduct of Gen. Garfield relating to 



either of the matters referred to that^ in any 
wav reflects upon his personal or official in- 
tegrity. For this rectification of opinion we 
have given our reasons in previous issues of 
the Independent. We have no merely parti- 
san ends to serve in advocating the election 
of Gen. Garfield. We support him because 
we believe in his honesty as a man, and aiso 
his emijient qualifications for the office of 
President, and because he represents Repub- 
lican principles, and will, if elected, give 
efiect to them. We can not support Gen. 
Hancock, because he is a Democrat, and 
would, if elected, be simply the tool of the 
Democratic party, with the solid South as 
the chief dictator. 

Elder 0. A. Bartholomew some time ago 
thus talked to a Cincinnati reporter: 

I was pastor of the Vermont Avenue Chris- 
tian Churcii from December 1. 18G9, to De- 
cember 1, lf<7;',, a period of four years, and 
during that time Gen. Garfield and family 
were members of my congregation. I became 
personally quite intimate with him. He was 
constant in his religious duties, althoughhis 
labors in Congress were onerous and exacting. 
He is a very superior and lovable character — 
no one in public life within my acquaintance 
i3 more so. 

He possesses a broad and comprehensive 
mind, enlarged and ripened by education and 
experience. His capacity for mental work is 
immense, but his training is so excellent, his 
habits so methodical, and his application so 
intense, combined with his extraordinary 
physique, he performs, and without apparent 
fatigue, the labor of a dozen men. When his 
services were required for any special occa- 
sion, as sometimes happened, they were al- 
ways at command. His readiness and the 
fertility of his intellectual resources are real- 
ly wonderful. He is equal to any emergency, 
and seeminglv without ett'ort. 

I sj^eak of tlie General with entire sincerity, 
and from full knowledge of his character. I 
do not think it possible for nie to be mistaken 
in him. I am not a politician. I have 
neirtier the taste nor the time for such occu- 
pation. But I feel privileged to say that in 
my opinion Gen. Garfield is a good man, an 
able man, a true man, and a great man ; one 
of tlie highest type of Christian gentlemen. 
He will not disappoint his friends if he is 
chosen to the exalted office for which he has 
been nominated. 

This array of testimonials could be extended 
to any length. It will conclude with the fol- 
lowing quotation from a letter of the Hon. J. 
S. Black, the distinguished lawyer and Demo- 
cratic politician, to the editor of the Phila- 
delphia Times: 

I am informed fully concerning the 
nomination at Chicago, and did not need 
inuch information about the character and 
history of the candidate there set up, my pcr- 
soiial a^<in(iintu)Ke with him being tol^mbl'i/ full 
and intimate. Your express determination to 
see that Gen. Garfield shall be defended 
against all unjust aspersions upon his per- 
sonal character, is equally pleasant reading 
to me, h)T llinvebfcnhix devoted friend for vwnv 
years, and I am resolved that J Jierer irill beliere 
Ifiathc does not deserve the affection that I have be 
stowed upon him. 

N. B.— The Republican Text Book for the 
Campaign of 1880 gives a full survey of the 
public life and character of Gen. Garfield. 
It IS a 216 page volume, beautifully printed, 
and sells for fifty cents. Address D. Apple- 
ton &, Co., 1, 3, and 5 Bond street, New York, 



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